If You Liked The Bear and the Nightingale (Winternight) Trilogy

by Denise D.

So, did you recently finish The Winter of the Witch and thus the entire Winternight Trilogy? Or are you still in the hold line? Are you looking for another historical fantasy featuring a strong, somewhat rebellious, young woman with otherworldly abilities who won’t settle for the oppression of magic? All set in a beautifully detailed world that is flavored by myths, fairy tales and cultures from around the globe? If so, then this list just might contain your next read.

Or are you intrigued by the Russian setting in the early days of tsarism? How about historical novels inspired by real women in the opulent inner circle of the last Romanovs? When Grigori Rasputin held sway over the royal family and the nation brimmed with revolution?

Two Montenegrin princesses who marry into unwelcoming Russian nobility inspire The Witches of St. Petersburg. Ostracized from the aristocracy because of their backwoods upbringing and magic practices, the two sisters befriend the melancholic new tsarina and introduce her to Rasputin.

For a perspective pairing, check out The Romanov Empress, told from the view of Tsarina Maria Feodorovna, the former tsarina and mother of Tsar Nicholas. As the mother-in-law, her take on Tsarina Alexandra and Rasputin is not so favorable. I could imagine lots of book club discussion fodder for readers of both tales.

Are you a Winternight Trilogy fan? What reads do you suggest for fellow fans?